The cessation of marital intercourse.

The authors found that marital coitus had ceased for a definable period (median=8 weeks) in one-third of a sample of 144 men and 221 women who were relatively young and had been married an average of 11 years. An analysis of factors related to the social background and marital relationship of the respondents indicated that the cessation behavior of men is more highly predictable than that of women and that antecedents of this behavior differ markedly between the sexes. The authors suggest that, even among relatively young couples, marital intercourse is discontinous and problematic.